Commercial Dishwasher Manuals & Owner Guides

Commercial dishwasher types

Under-counter

Compact machines for bars, cafés and small kitchens; typically about 25–30 racks per hour.

Door-type (stationary rack)

The workhorse of most restaurants. The operator slides a rack in and lowers the door or hood; dump-and-fill versions replace the water every cycle.

Pot, pan and utensil

Door-type machines with tall chambers and powerful pumps for sheet pans, stock pots and utensils.

Rack conveyor

Racks are pulled through wash and rinse zones automatically; single-tank or multiple-tank models handle roughly 200+ racks per hour.

Flight-type

Ware is loaded directly onto a continuous belt — used by large institutions, rated by water use per hour rather than per rack.

High-temp vs. low-temp sanitizing

High-temperature machines sanitize with a final rinse of 180 °F water (165 °F on stationary single-temperature machines), which requires a booster heater and usually a hood, but needs no chemical sanitizer and dries ware quickly. Low-temperature machines sanitize with a chemical — usually chlorine — at wash temperatures as low as 120 °F; they cost less to install but add chemical costs and slower drying.

Reading dishwasher energy and water numbers

Water use (gallons per rack) drives most of the operating cost, because every gallon has to be heated. Idle energy rate (kW) shows what the machine draws while hot but not washing. Multiply gallons per rack by your daily rack count to estimate hot water use.

Commercial Dishwasher FAQ